Bank of Kigali is the Best Bank in Rwanda, according to the 2017 African Bankers’ Awards for the East Africa region organised by EMEA, an elite London based finance magazine. The award, announced last week, is BK’s latest following a spate of victories on the local scene.

It is not the first time BK is winning the coveted EMEA Award for best bank category. Since 2009, Bank of Kigali, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has won the accolade more than five times, marking it out as one of the country’s most decorated brands.

"Being recognised internationally as best Bank in Rwanda is humbling, and a manifestation of our efforts to financially transform lives through our innovative financial services while creating value for our shareholders,” BK CEO Dr Diane Karusisi Told The New Times.

Elsewhere in East Africa, winners in the best bank category included Uganda’s Stanbic Bank, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Tanzania’s CRDB bank and EcoBank Burundi.

Last year, BK was announced Company of the year in the ‘All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA). Other recognitions for the bank include Euromoney and the Financial Times’ The Banker award for best bank in Rwanda which BK has dominated for the last couple of years.

The Bank is mainly credited for its consistent profitability and solid business management as well as financial reporting which has seen it consolidate its position as the market leader in Rwanda’s banking industry, for the last decade.

While the awards provide good motivation for the bank, Karusisi says the first priority is to ensure customer satisfaction through innovative products coupled with great customer service while ensuring that the bank creates more value for its shareholders.

"All awards are great but the greatest of all is the satisfaction of our stakeholders, including customers and shareholders,” Karusisi added.

Karusisi, who took over at the helm of Bank of Kigali in February last year, is credited with managing a smooth transition, consolidating the bank’s good performance in yesteryears while at the same time charting a new growth strategy for the lender, with a specific focus on investing in digital banking infrastructure.

A fortnight ago, the Bank announced a half year profit after tax of Rwf11.4 billion compared to Rwf10.9 billion in the same period last year. The bank’s profit before tax stood at Rwf16.7 compared to Rwf15.8 billion in the same period last year.

The half year performance has boosted the firm’s confidence in going past last year’s net income of about Rwf20.8 billion with market analysts projecting that the lender could post an after tax profit of between Rwf22 billion and Rwf24 billion at the end of the year, given the bank’s performance in the first half of the year.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw